Reunions don't always take years
by ibford
Summary: Kohaku promises Chihiro that they will meet again. A week later and the promise is fulfilled. However with evil spirits that hates humans in the spirit world and parents who can never understand why she disappears for days at a time in the physical world can Chihiro really be happy in either place?


**Hello and welcome to my first story. I decided to write this one after I noticed that nearly every spirited away fan fiction here has some form of aging in it. While I'm certainty not against it as it is almost necessary in order to write a romance story or a lemon, but with so many of them out there mine will probably have little to none what so ever and focus on Chihiro's struggling relationships with her parents and friends in the spirit world as she tries to even the two out. spirited away is owned by studio Ghibli and please R/R thank you**

**chapter 1 **

The world was a very big place, chances are you will spend all your life on earth and experience the many things it has to offer because no one could really run out of things to do, and if you really tried you could never get bored, right? However, with the exception of astronauts there was the few that also left earth. Where did they go? The spirt world, an even larger place with more things to do, more places to see and a beauty in which the physical world cannot compare. Sadly the options are either die to stay there or already be a spirit as people who came would always stay dead or leave alive. That's just how things worked, for humans to live there they needed food that didn't turn them to pigs, a place to stay in order not to get possessed, a job in order to get the food and place to stay and most importantly spirits who wanted he or she to actually live there.

Luckily one little girl named Chihiro who left not but a week ago was already missed.

"The stink spirit is at the bridge!" Yubaba shouted furiously.

The bath house was in full swing today as frightened employees were scrambling around trying to make preparations for the incoming spirit.

"Another one?"

"This is the 9h one this week"

"Shut your mouth and get back to work!" Yubaba shouted.

Truth be told once after Chihiro and company had unpolluted the one stink spirit that came to the bathhouse the word was spread that the bathhouse could do the same to the other stinks as well so now they were becoming a common occurrence so much that a second big tub was being built and money was being raked in. Unfortunately with Chihiro no longer working here and a staff that would prefer (mild way to put it) to stay away from a giant stink monster left some issues as workers were getting angry, Yubaba was angry at the workers being angry (seriously, find a thorn in its side and pull) and the 3 green heads were angry as always so it was a pretty tense place.

"Yubaba, still can't run a bathhouse I see." Kohaku remarked

After Kohaku learned his name was well, Kohaku, not just Haku, he was no longer an apprentice of Yubaba and was free to do as he wanted and for him it was to stay at the bathhouse as not a henchmen but a long term customer. He would still go into dragon form and patrol the sea as everyone needs a job but with all the gold he smuggled from no face and some other customers he was able to afford to rent his own room. He stayed as this was the only place he knew as the river he was a spirt of has been dried up and replaced by apartments, but Yubaba suspected he was trying to annoy her to the point of death.

"So your back, sorry to say but I checked the mail and your girlfriend didn't send you a letter"

At this Kohaku, who was not the best when it came with dealing with emotions and smart comebacks, got flustered and angry whilst retreating to his room making Yubaba chuckle. To Kohaku Yubaba was trying to annoy him to death.

"Yubaba! The stink spirit is here!"

Yubaba suddenly got serious "Already? Is everything ready?"

"Well … you see… us workers decided that maybe the spirit should be turned away and"

"Is the bath ready!?

"Um… Well.. No" the worker almost whispered in terror

At this point the stink spirit started coming in the door workers stood away and no one looked the least ready to do any bathing. Yubaba was furious, using every ounce of willpower not to explode and go on a murderous rampage in front of a customer she realized something.

She needed Chihiro

Not far away a worker named Lin who was her partner and friend thought the same thing

Below in the boiler room the Susuwatari, who have few moments of joy in their life as there only purpose is to work, missed her as well.

In a rented room near the top of the bathhouse Kohaku, who made a promise to see her again also missed her, but for more personal reasons

At Zeniba's house a certain spirt named no face thought of Chihiro, he wanted her, not to eat her as he wanted before, but as an actual friend, someone to cheer him up and make him not feel lonely. Because while Zeniba did all she could to help no face, only Chihiro could truly help.

They all came to the same conclusion, they all missed Chihiro, and even with the different reasons, money, loneliness, and companionship, they wanted her back.

Luckily, she also wanted to come back

Chihiro was reading a book, one called Alice in wonderland. She grinned as she read it remembering her similar own experience in the spirit world but then got sad. Thoughts began to crowd her head, what if Kohaku couldn't keep his promise, what if she could never return and see any of her friends again, and what if she had to wait only to forget it ever existed. She was truly scared of that, in the physical world, school was fine, she was making some friends, she got good grades but it was boring. Everyone expected her to grow up, join a college, and get a well-paying job, nothing more. Everything she was doing was to prepare her for the real world, and while that would be the right thing to do for some children, she had a job, a job in the spirit world, and now with her parents' safe, she wanted to have that job back.

"Once you meet someone, you never really forget them." Those words echoed in her mind but she never wanted to not remember them, she knew, deep down she needed to go back.

Away in the spirit world, spirits wanted her back

And so, she would come back

"Are you sure you can handle being home alone" Yuko said worryingly to her daughter. It was Chihiros' parents' anniversary but they were nervous leaving their daughter alone

"Yes mom I'll be fine" Chihiro replied

"You sure" her dad asked.

"I'll be fine, nothing bad is going to happen."(Famous last words)

"I'm sure not, but you can never sure"

After her parents were saved and no longer pigs they forgot everything about the spirt world. However time passes in both worlds and while you don't age as a spirt time flows the same amount so the parents had a week gap in their memories which made them paranoid. They never talked about it outside the 3 of them and Chihiro never mentioned the spirit world saying she didn't remember either, but outside explaining to bosses where you were for the past week and missing the first days of school nothing drastic happened. That didn't make the parents feel any safer as they hadn't let their daughter alone without surveillance yet.

"Everything will be ok, nothing bad will happen." Chihiro said reassuringly.

Finally her parents gave in "ok you can stay home, leftovers are in the fridge you can have them for dinner, be good and remember if anything happens call the cops okay."

"Okay I will, love you enjoy your anniversary."

She gave each her parents a hug and waved goodbye while watching them leave the house, get in the car, then leave the area. This being the first time she was alone in a while she let out a breath and started pacing around. Her thoughts were mixed with running away or staying home, she knew if she went to the spirit world a short visit was unlikely and her being missing would not go unnoticed by her parents. So if she went she could see her friends again, possibly get her job back but with a much fairer contract and have the time of her life going to the spirit world not to save anyone, but to enjoy herself. However she didn't want to stay there forever and if she had her way she would visit both worlds every couple of days but her parents would never allow that. Going meant coming home to worried parents and having to explain where you were gone and having to deal with the consequences like spankings and such but the worst would be losing trust in her parents and unable to get back to the spirit world which would only make her miss it more. Not going she didn't have to deal with the drama of being a missing child but not getting to see any of her newly made friends, especially Kohaku. She truly had no idea what to do.

Luckily she didn't have to decide as all of a sudden from all around the house Susuwatari came rushing over to her all having a happy expression on their faces for seeing Chihiro. Chihiro was completely shocked as she thought spirits couldn't come in contact with humans, but then again they were more soot than spirit so who knew. Meanwhile while she was thinking some of them started tugging on the shoes she put on just in case she had to leave.

"Oh I forgot I had these on, I guess you also missed my shoes as well" she said

So after a few more seconds of letting her brain soak everything in she sat down, removed her shoes and socks and set them in front of the Susuwatari expecting them to pick up the shoes instead they surrounded her and decided to pick her up. Now after what happened at the spirit world Chihiro didn't scare as easily being exposed to all the scary spirits but know she was startled to say the least. She knew they were strong as the coal they carried was really heavy but it didn't occur to her just how easily they could pick her up.

"What are you doing?" she asked calmly as possible while lying down to not fall over

The Susuwatari now with Chihiro in tow began moving to the front door. Sadly with them only being a few inches tall and not trained in the skill of stacking on top of one another they could not open the door making Chihiro wonder how they got in the first place. With them looking sad they set her down and looked expectantly at the door. The Susuwatari knew that for them to be successful in "kidnapping" Chihiro she would have to open the door, making the choice to stay or go once again fall on her shoulders.

"And here I thought I could get the easy way out" she thought once again thinking of the consequences of leaving and devastation of staying. Taking a look at the Susuwatari and their faces of almost desperation made her realize if they wanted her back, perhaps some spirits in the spirit world missed her as she missed them. So with a lot of hesitation and uncertainty, Chihiro stood up, reached for the door handle, and after taking a deep breath, opened the door.

Meanwhile Yubaba, the one who had sent the Susuwatari to get Chihiro, gave a sigh of relive as they were know moving across the forest towards the tunnel that leads to the spirit world. The other people in the room, (Kohaku, Lin, Boh, bunch of random workers.), cheered at the return of Chihiro and the Susuwatari because with them gone some "lucky" workers filed in their spots and were doing a terrible job at it leaving a very angry Kamaji.

"So I guess they weren't needed after all, it looks like she would have come here anyway" Lin said.

"No without them she would stress herself to the point of a mental breakdown" said Yubaba.

"Well at least she's coming, we need someone who is willing to clean those stink spirits"

"Maybe if you learned a thing or two from her we wouldn't have to bring her back in the first place".

"It's not my fault those things are nasty, didn't you see Chihiros expression as the stink spirit came towards her".

"Yeah but she still got the job done".

"That's because she had to save her parents what makes you think she will want to do anymore work".

"She's a smart enough kid to know she can't come back and do nothing but spend time with her boyfriend over there".

Having enough to do with the conversation sighed then went outside while the two were still talking. He began walking up the stairs so he could meet Chihiro at the entrance, knowing he would not break the promise he made to her.

Meanwhile Chihiro, after being carried around for the past half an hour finally was set down upon arriving at the tunnel that led to the spirit world. She got up, stretched and found that they did carry her shoes after all. So after putting them on and many nudges by her escorts began walking down the tunnel. She was still nervous as she couldn't help but think how worried her parents will be and coming back to them. Ultimately, though, this was her life, and while parents' guide and help their children through life she knew she had to come back to the spirit world. Her parents cannot help or guide here, she knows that, so while her parents may never understand why she will be missing, and it's not their fault.

Stepping out of the tunnel her eyes squinted at the glaring sun, after they adjusted she saw Kohaku standing at the entrance of the town. Smiling and running, Chihiro made her past the now dried up river and into the welcoming hands of Kohaku who after a few seconds of deep embrace said

"Welcome back, Chihiro"


End file.
